What's the smallest community an orthopod has worked in?

[Percival]

Or, more correctly, what is the smallest town in which an orthopod has worked [full time]?

I heard that there was a new push for orthopaedists in rural areas to practice general orthopaedic medicine.

thoughts?

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[SOUNDMAN]

Or, more correctly, what is the smallest town in which an orthopod has worked [full time]?

I heard that there was a new push for orthopaedists in rural areas to practice general orthopaedic medicine.

thoughts?

I worked in a town of 30K with 4 orthopods, and I was one of two PA's. Two of the orthopods were VERY busy, one did spine, and the other one...well kind of picked up the leftover, trauma and stuff.

We did have a fairly significant drawing area of over 150K or so within 100 miles or so. However the closest "big town", meaning over 250K people was 2.5 hours away. I liked working in the smaller town and hospital, we were very busy.

 

[Willh]

I live in extreme northern Maine...
The town of Fort Kent (4,000 people) has one.

 

[Lokhtar]

I live in extreme northern Maine...
The town of Fort Kent (4,000 people) has one.

How can you stay busy with 4,000 people? My high school had 3800 people!

 

[Tenesma]

fort kent is a small population but you have a large encachment area of mutliple very rural areas...

you can't look at the population of a town but you have to look at the population of the county and surrounding counties...

if you want to do general ortho then all you need is about 15,000 population.... if you want to do just knee replacements then you will have to be in a far bigger population...

 

[MossPoh]

A 3,800 person high school is huge.

As stated above, it is all about the area. Also, some pretty serious stuff happens in rural areas. Some of the worst injuries I've ever witnessed resulted from hunting accidents, farming accidents, and other rural type hobbies. When you grow up in a rural type area, your activities tend to take on a bit more of a dangerous aspect. I still remember getting dragged through fields on a sled being pulled by a 4 wheeler during winter. Not to mention the playing in silos, blowing stuff up, and all around being stupid.